Posted on 01/21/2015 4:47:04 PM PST by RnMomof7
As a church history professor, I am sometimes asked how certain practices developed in church history. For example: When did the Roman Catholic (and Eastern Orthodox) emphasis on praying to saints and venerating relics and icons begin?
A somewhat obscure, but extremely helpful, book by John Calvin answers that question directly.
In his work, A Treatise on Relics, Calvin utilizes his extensive knowledge of church history to demonstrate that prayers to the saints, prayers for the dead, the veneration of relics, the lighting of candles (in homage to the saints), and the veneration of icons are all rooted in Roman paganism. Such practices infiltrated the Christian church after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century.
Here is an excerpt from Calvin’s work that summarizes his thesis:
Hero-worship is innate to human nature, and it is founded on some of our noblest feelings, — gratitude, love, and admiration, — but which, like all other feelings, when uncontrolled by principle and reason, may easily degenerate into the wildest exaggerations, and lead to most dangerous consequences. It was by such an exaggeration of these noble feelings that [Roman] Paganism filled the Olympus with gods and demigods, — elevating to this rank men who have often deserved the gratitude of their fellow-creatures, by some signal services rendered to the community, or their admiration, by having performed some deeds which required a more than usual degree of mental and physical powers.
The same cause obtained for the Christian martyrs the gratitude and admiration of their fellow-Christians, and finally converted them into a kind of demigods. This was more particularly the case when the church began to be corrupted by her compromise with Paganism [during the fourth and fifth-centuries], which having been baptized without being converted, rapidly introduced into the Christian church, not only many of its rites and ceremonies, but even its polytheism, with this difference, that the divinities of Greece and Rome were replaced by Christian saints, many of whom received the offices of their Pagan predecessors.
The church in the beginning tolerated these abuses, as a temporary evil, but was afterwards unable to remove them; and they became so strong, particularly during the prevailing ignorance of the middle ages, that the church ended up legalizing, through her decrees, that at which she did nothing but wink at first.
In a footnote, Calvin gives specific examples of how Christians saints simply became substitutes for pagan deities.
Thus St. Anthony of Padua restores, like Mercury, stolen property; St. Hubert, like Diana, is the patron of sportsmen; St. Cosmas, like Esculapius, that of physicians, etc. In fact, almost every profession and trade, as well as every place, have their especial patron saint, who, like the tutelary divinity of the Pagans, receives particular hours from his or her protégés.
You can read the entire work on Google Books.
Calvin’s treatment includes a historical overview, quotes from the church fathers, and even citations from sixteenth-century Roman Catholic scholars. The result is an air-tight case for the true origin of many Catholic practices.
Calvin’s conclusion is that these practices are nothing more than idolatrous superstitions, rooted in ancient Roman paganism. Even today, five centuries later, his work still serves as a necessary warning to those who persist in such idolatry. Hence his concluding sentence: “Now, those who fall into this error must do so willingly, as no one can from henceforth plead ignorance on the subject as their excuse.”
Umm. There is no church of Calvin.
Affirmative sir.
Priest Defending Paganism Placemarker!
There are MANY churches with the name of Calvin or Calvinism in them.
You should see the list of those who were martyred for the Muslim faith. After all, you seem to be saying that if they are martyred for their faith they are correct right?
Frank Viola addressed this in his book, Pagan Christianity a number of years ago.
In my almost 50 year search for “what were the bare, minimal essentials of first century Christians and the first century church”, I long ago discovered that by far a majority of the practices of today’s church (including Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, fundamentalists, Baptists, etc.) have their origins in pagan religions, and what we know and accept as normal today (it’s all we’ve known) would shock Christians of the first century.
Two major examples are a man called a pastor (or priest) who heads a church (just as a CEO heads a company), and a sermon (or homily).
I do know Frank and respect him and agree with most of what he wrote in this book, but contains a superior and critical attitude in addressing these matters that I think takes away from the facts that he is presenting.
I do recommend reading it with that thought in mind, and decide for yourself as to his perspective. His research and documentation is very thorough.
http://www.paganchristianity.org/
Yeah, ah ha, right!!! Who do you really think you are kidding? Some of those prayers have been posted on these forums showing that statement to be fiction.
Your specific claim was that Calvin approved of naming churches after himself. What churches are those?
“are very thorough.” My bad.
There isn't? You mean I have been searching all these years for a good 1st United Church of Calvin, and now you say I should abandon my search? Oh the horrors involved 😄😃😀
No. I did not say that.
In fact, I didn’t SEEM to be saying that, either.
In fact, you made up something idiotic, and then gratuitously attributed it to me. That’s a sleazy, cheap, dishonest mode of “argumentation.”
You seem to be saying that your own head is a cabbage, right?
So then tell us the purpose of posting those links to your so called saints.
I do not think Calvin was a big fan of the Catholic Church.
Not a fan of Rome or the papacy, which is not the same thing.
There are tons of ridiculous Roman Catholic Church names.
Individual churches that bear the name of someone is hardly the same as what you posted.
Oh, for God’s sake. Ever since the early 1500’s Calvin has opposed the Catholic Church. But, he had no problem with a church being named after himself.
Nonsense.
This remains so today from personal trinket idols to body parts, to Popes embrassing dolls and Statues.. etc. 'Anything' now can be made into an idol in catholicism and their alters are generally "Loaded" with them and also "shared"....Spiritual Perversion says it well.
Pope kissing the Islamic Koran
Worship of a corpse bone
Pope Kissing a vile of blood
Okay. Did my post said otherwise?
You are correct about the church gatherings today not always duplicating the First Century Church, and some local fellowships are more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit than are others.
The First Century Churches were not all lasting successes either. Reference: book of Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Not all local congregations have the same strict structure and large heirachy that some large mainline denominational churches do either.
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